New Zealand - the non American perspective (by Paul Cheshire)

Introduction

I do not come from the Land of the free and the home of the brave, I come from the land that gave us everything necessary to live in the world today. As Nate will agree, this can only be one country, Scotland. Therefore, my view of New Zealand may be slightly different to that of my good American friend. But I need to keep in with the big man as he has promised to have his good Mother hoist the Bonnie Scotland flag up the Smith flagpole when I come to visit the Burgh of Pitts.

New Zealand is a small country with a vast number of wonderful sites, more than any one country deserves. Similar to Scotland, the North Island is green. But there are also the beaches, the ski slopes, the mountains. Someone told me New Zealand was a poor country, if this is true yachts must be on special offer down the local shops. And then there’s the South Island, not seen much of it yet but from what I hear New Zealand is a country of two halves, with each one impressive as the other.

Nate’s observations

Of Nate’s main gripes I agree with some and disagree with others. The inconvenience of the convenience store I can live with. I like it where things close at a reasonable time and a country recognises the difference between day and night. Where I grew up the only place open at 3 in the morning were the petrol stations and you had to ask for your Pot Noodle through the window.

Roundabouts, I love roundabouts. Auckland has a long way to go before it obtains Polo mint city status so these don’t bother me too much. But I agree with Nate about some of the other road set ups. You can be sitting at a red filter light at 3 in the morning with not a single other car in site. But you just know the one time you decide to go there will be a police car round the corner.

One road which Nate has not specifically included in his blog yet is St Georges Bay Road, the road I live on with my fiancée Fiona, which I know drives him mad. Lots of parked cars on either side of the road so often a drive down the road involves stopping, starting, pulling in and out. A common feature of British town roads. I love it.

Pharmacy rule – I think Nate has summed this one up. I only wish I was there the day he yelled at the counter in true Macenroe style “You gotta be kidding me!”.

Doritos and diet pop – I think Nate might be over this one, and it’s all down to me. I discovered “Martha’s backyard”, a USA store, and was good enough to take Nate there. A kid in a sweet shop comes to mind. I was disappointed that the woman behind the counter never said “Have a nice day now”.

My observations

Breaking the ice

Being Scottish is a wonderful thing. You can inform all your American friends about all the amazing inventions your fellow countrymen devised, you can be proud about how amazing at all sports your country is, you can be proud in the knowledge that you will take a great tan when the sun comes out and you can be guaranteed whenever you meet someone new in New Zealand they will inform you about their Scottish ancestry. This will be quickly followed by either “you’ll be use to this cold weather being from Scotland” or “it’s not like a Scotsman to buy a round of drinks”. If I were to get a dollar for every time someone said one of those to me I’d still be a miserable auld Scotsman.

Sports participation

This country is sports mad. I’ve never known so many people to go out jogging so often or play a sport regularly. They definitely prefer to take part than to spectate. And it’s infectious. Having no interest in jogging what so ever before I arrived here I have since ran two half marathons, signed up for another and spent a small fortune on running shoes.

Making the most of your doorstep

Often I am embarrassed when I meet someone who has visited Scotland and they tell me all about the Highlands or the Islands and I have to admit that I have never visited them myself. There is the old cliché about not appreciating your own doorstep and there are certainly a lot of Kiwis who are as guilty of this as I am. Many may not have visited the South Island or done the Tongariro Crossing but one things for sure most weekends they are probably at the family bach by the sea. Auckland, and I’m sure most other main NZ cities, empties come most Friday nights should the weather man predict sun for the weekend. I think the attitude most have regards to getting out and doing something is brilliant. Certainly something I hope rubs off on me once my time here is up.

Christmas in the sun

Being from the Northern Hemisphere everyone assumes I am use to White Christmas’. This is not true. Where I am from there have only been three in my lifetime, ironically one this year which I missed. But one things for sure in New Zealand that the sun shining on Christmas day is a lot more common. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel celebrating Christmas in the sun but I’ve done it twice now and have to admit to liking it. A barbeque on the beach followed by a swim in the sea, there could be worse ways to spend your holidays.

Hopefully this has provided a different insight into a fascinating, wonderful, sometimes bizarre country.

Paul Cheshire
28/12/09

Kiwi Christmas (without the Kiwis)

I was fortunate enough to spend Christmas this year with friends from all around the world, fellow orphans without family in New Zealand. We went over to the Howarth's house for a delicious and huge home-cooked meal featuring turkey, ham, sausages, and much much more. We also had a great rum cake that Paula's family mailed all the way from Ireland. I even got to dress up as Santa Clause to surprise (and scare to death) baby Chloe. We enjoyed the day eating, relaxing, playing games (James caused the men to lose Trivial Pursuit which I was not happy about), and playing and singing RockBand. It was a great way to spend Christmas in the hot sun!

Santa Clause comes to visit

Good girl!

Good boy or bad?

Games outside in the sun

Rum cake from half way around the world

Milford Track (Day 4)

Today was the final day of hiking. We got our first bit of rain for the whole trip overnight (fortunately it had stopped by the morning). There was a note in the kitchen indicating that we couldn't start out on the track right away as they had to be sure it wasn't flooded from the overnight rain but got the all-clear to head out by around 8:30.

It wasn't the nicest day ever but it wasn't too bad. It was a bit overcast but the sun broke through a few times and we did see some blue skies yet again. We were quite lucky to have blue skies on all 4 days of the hike as that is very rare in this part of the island. Today was also a bit less relaxing and a bit more of a mission to finish up as we had to be at the end of the track to catch a ferry by 2:00. I had to whip my parents like mules along the way to keep them moving but we got there.

After a bit of celebrating and getting eaten alive by the sandflies at the ending spot coincidentally named "Sandfly Point", we boarded the ferry and took the 20 minute ride to Milford Sound where you've seen pictures from the day we began the tramp (those were better pictures as it was a nicer day).

After taking the bus back to Te Anau downs, we were fortunate to enjoy a huge feast at the hotel after a much needed shower. I absolutely gorged myself like a pig and ended up passing out at around 7:30 that evening.

Overall, the 4-day, 33.5 mile hike was one of the more fun and beautiful experiences I've ever had and it was great to get to spend it with mum and dad.

Milford Track (Day 3)

Day 3 marked a bit more of an ascent up into the mountains. The first hour and a half was an uphill climb to Mackinnons Pass. The weather started out beautiful again but as we were climbing up the mountain, the clouds began to roll in. I thought that maybe if I hurried up I could make it to the Pass before it got completely clouded in but I was wrong.

I was a bit worried that the whole rest of the day would be cloudy now and it was getting very cold at the top of the Pass. Just as I was about to give up hope, our good fortune struck again and the clouds started to dissipate just as quickly as they rolled in. There was a big valley at one of the day huts that we didn't even know was there one minute then it was completely clear and beautiful the next.

The rest of the day remained nice with only a bit of cloud cover but mixed in with sunshine. The hike down was actually more gruelling than the hike up as we had to take an emergency avalanche route for safety reasons which was quite steep and scattered with ankle-breaking rocks. Fortunately, we made it through OK.

On the way back, we also stopped at another day hut and took a further hike back into the woods to see the Sutherland Falls which is the highest falls in New Zealand and at one time was thought to be the highest falls in the world (found not to be true later). We finally got to our huts after a gruelling day's hike. This hut had 4 separate bunkrooms of about 10 beds each. The whole group was in bed early tonight to rest up for our final day. We finally got some of the rain that we heard so much about but fortunately it waited until we were at the hut for the evening.

Another beautiful morning

The journey up to Mackinnon Pass

And the fog started to roll in...

At MacKinnon Pass but unfortunately covered in cloud

The commemorative statue at MacKinnon Pass

The clouds parted for a few seconds while at the top - I thought this is the best we would get

A bit of blue sky coming in above the statue

The fog seemed like it might start to lift

Mountain tops began peaking through

Me at the day hut on the highest point of the Milford Track

And suddenly the clouds lifted!

Dad, Mom, and me at the highest point of the hike

Me at the toilet with the best view in the country

Panorama view at the peak with the famous toilet

View from the can...

Beginning the descent

Beautiful views on the hike down

The clouds threatened to roll in again but it was short-lived

Beautiful Panorama

Down, down, down

Mom and Dad hoping their knees would hold up

Mom

Sutherland falls

The flightless Weka bird we saw along the track

Milford Track (Day 2)

Today was a bit tougher of a hike but still not too bad. I think we hiked about 16 Km today through gorgeous scenery. Most of the hiking was relatively flat as it followed the river again today except for the last kilometer or so when we began to climb.

We were certainly fortunate once again today with the weather. It typically rains more than half of the days in December and is overcast for a good portion of the days it does not rain. Today was our second day in a row of blue skies. In fact the crazy ranger named Katie at the hut this evening told us that it was 28 degrees (82 for all you Americans) which is very warm for this time of year as far down south as we were. It was so hot that once we finally got to the hut, we decided to go down to the swimming hole which was a local glacial lake with water temperatures just above freezing. We all went for a wade but then my dad and I decided to jump in. I immediately became disoriented and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a minute before I found my way back to shore...very refreshing!

The cabin was nice again with three bunkrooms. Two smaller ones with approx. 8 beds and then a large one with 20 something beds. Fortunately, we got one of the smaller room with the 8 beds. It wasn't too hard to fall asleep tonight after the long walk and the refreshing swim.

Camouflage

Beautiful panorama view

Nice pigtails! You found those on the ground, right?

About to cross one of the many avalanche zones. They weren't kidding either as we were hearing avalanches all day long - some were quite loud!

It's hard to tell how big this trout was as there is nothing to really compare it to in the picture but this guy was a big one

Like a symphony of koru ferns

I think the old man is lost, should we help him?

Me jumping into the freezing cold water

Video of Dad jumping into the COLD glacial lake!